The Problem of Overwhelm and How to Overcome It

Introduction

You know if you are overwhelmed when:

You are not taking action / you procrastinate
You cannot decide what the next step is
You are continually taking courses, watching online videos, reading blogs, i.e. continually learning new things rather than taking action.

Overwhelm is a business killer. The cure for overwhelm is one or all of the following:
• Get focus
• Have a plan
• Be accountable
• Take action

Gain focus

Your ability to focus is the power behind your intention.

The Power of Daily Rituals

"Success is nothing more than a few simple disciplines, practised every day". Jim Rohn.

Set aside 60 minutes per day for business development work. Minimum. This is a fundamental non-negotiable step of this process.

Set aside more time if you can.

Decide on two or three actions you will take during those 60 minutes. We have some ideas in another blog post.

As you work, record your time and make notes.

We call this process Daily Rituals.

Eliminate Distractions

Do all you can to preserve your focus.

The true value of time lost to distractions can be calculate by adding 23 minutes to the length of the distraction. For example, if you spend 20 minutes scrolling through social media, the total lost time is 20 + 23, which is nearly three quarters of an hour, which is a huge chunk of time taken from your working day – time that could have been spent in so many other profitable activities.

Your focus will be greatly undermined by distractions. They will drain your mental energy and waste valuable time that could be spent on business building activity. Therefore, if you want to change your situation you must eliminate time-sucking behaviour.

At first, try to eliminate distractions during your 60 minutes focussed time. Eventually and as soon as possible, eliminate these distractions from the whole working day.

Remember:
• You own your phone
• You own your social media accounts
• You own your email
They do not own you.

Here are some ideas:

Social Media

Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, forums – unless it is specifically for looking for clients or other opportunities, avoid them.

Do not get engaged in discussions, chatting, reacting, commenting, liking or posting photos or any other activities that are not specifically about developing your business in some way during work hours.

Email

You can waste as much as a third of your day on email.

The choice is simple: Either keep your email software open all day OR do focused work that will help you grow your business.

DO
Have a set time or times when you read and respond to email. Do not open your email software outside of these times.
Spend time un-subscribing from email lists. Judge your email like this:
If you rarely if ever read their email
If the email content is not absolutely core to your current central focus
Unsubscribe.
You absolutely cannot afford to waste the time or mental energy dealing with this.

DO NOT
Have your email software open all the time.
When you read email, do not click links e.g. to open sales pages, video etc. You will be taken on a magical mystery tour to someone else’s world – you don’t have time for that.

Your Phone

Simply put your phone on silent when you want to do focused work.

Obviously, this does not mean if you use your phone for business building work. However, if you notice that your old pal has sent you a message on WhatsApp, you are going to want to read that message – this will distract you and it will take a surprisingly long time before you are mentally back into the work zone and being effective.

Software / Courses / Various Shiny Objects

Do not buy software or invest in course or other services that do not immediately benefit your business. This can be a huge waste of time and money.

Do buy books that address specific business needs that contain actionable content (just remember to look for them outside of working hours!).

Here is Next Week’s Todo List

"Doing it is doing it."
"Results don’t lie." Gary Vanerychuck.

Set aside 60 minutes every day to focus on business building activity.

Pick one activity from the list above and implement it.
Define some tasks for daily action. Think of them as daily rituals.
Keep track of the time you spend each day.
Find an accountability partner. Use the mail as your you todo list for the upcoming week.
If you implement even half of the advice in this short document, you will experience victories. When you do, celebrate them.